1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for mapping abbreviated numbers in a mobile communication terminal and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for mapping abbreviated numbers in a mobile communication terminal and a method thereof which can map abbreviated numbers so that the abbreviated numbers correspond to the initial characters of preset units that constitute the names of opposite parties, that is, parties to be called.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, when a user intends to make a phone call using a mobile communication terminal, he/she directly inputs a phone number through a keypad, or performs a dialing operation by searching and inputting pre-stored information about the name and phone number of the opposite party that the user desires to call on the phone.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a process of storing a phone number and the opposite party's information in a conventional mobile communication terminal.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional mobile communication terminal receives an input of an opposite party's phone number that the user intends to store (step 102). Here, the mobile communication terminal that has received an input of the opposite party's phone number gives an abbreviated number that has not yet been used in the terminal to the phone number to be stored, or allocates the abbreviation number to the phone number through the designation of the abbreviation number input by the user (step 104). After the allocation of the abbreviation number to the phone number, the mobile communication terminal receives a user's confirmation of a position at which the phone number is to be stored (step 106). After the confirmation of the storage position, the mobile communication terminal receives an input of the abbreviation number and the opposite party's information such as the name of the opposite party (e.g., name, nickname, firm name, name of a public institution, and the like), opposite party's phone number (such as mobile phone number, home phone number, office phone number, and the like), message, and similar information (step 108). Through the above-described input process, the mobile communication terminal stores the phone number, abbreviation number and opposite party's information (step 110). Accordingly, the terminal inputs and stores the opposite party's information in advance, and then if the user intends to make a call to the opposite party, he/she performs the dialing through a search for the stored information.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a dialing process using the opposite party's name and the corresponding abbreviated number in a conventional mobile communication terminal.
Referring to FIG. 2, when the user performs a dialing operation to make a phone call to another person, the mobile communication terminal receives an input of the abbreviated number or name of the opposite party from the user (step 202). The mobile communication terminal searches for and outputs the searched opposite party's information that corresponds to the abbreviated number or the name of the opposite party input by the user (step 204). In this case, the searched opposite party's information may be one or two or more duplicate sets of information. The mobile communication terminal confirms the opposite party's information with respect to the user's input through the result of the search, and then determines whether the abbreviated number or the name of the opposite party stored in the mobile communication terminal is a duplicate through the user's input (step 206)(e.g., multiple telephone numbers such as a work or mobile number are stored for the same abbreviated number or name). At this time, if the opposite party's information is a duplicate, the mobile communication terminal receives the user's selection of the corresponding opposite party's information from among the searched duplicate opposite party's information, and then selects the corresponding opposite party's information accordingly (step 208). At this time, the mobile communication terminal confirms the corresponding number stored in the mobile communication terminal and performs the dialing (step 210).
While the user uses the mobile communication terminal, the following problems can occur. In the case of performing the dialing operation using the abbreviated number as described above, it is difficult in practice that the user remembers a large number of phone numbers stored in order to use the abbreviated numbers. Accordingly, this results in that the user of the mobile communication terminal does not use the many of the abbreviated numbers except for those abbreviated numbers that the user can remember. For example, the several abbreviated numbers that the user can remember may be ‘1’ corresponding to his/her home phone number, ‘2’ corresponding to his/her office phone number, ‘3’ corresponding to his/her intimate friend and so on.
Additionally, instead of using the abbreviated number, the user directly inputs the name of the opposite party stored in the mobile communication terminal, or selects and performs a dialing operation of the opposite party's phone number to which the user desires to make a phone call using a phone book stored in the mobile communication terminal. It typically takes up to tens of seconds for the user to select the opposite party's phone number to which the user desires to make a phone call.